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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Less a week after he was found guilty of indecent assault by
force on a minor, Rabbi Mordechai Elon is receiving significant support from
one of the most prominent religious Zionist rabbis. Ynet has learned that Rabbi
Chaim Druckman, one of the leaders of the national-religious public, invited
the convicted rabbi to deliver his weekly Torah lesson at his yeshiva of Or
Etzion.

In the past few days,
Rabbi Druckman has avoided voicing a public opinion in regards to Rabbi Elon or
repeating his past statements in favor of the man or against those who accused
him of committing sex offenses – likely for fear of creating a public row.

Druckman has been criticized in the past for innocently
backing Ze'ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem's Netiv Meir Yeshiva,
who was convicted of indecent acts against his students, thus hurting the
victims once again.

Buy Ynet has learned that last week, shortly after the court
delivered its ruling, Druckman invited Elon to go on teaching at his yeshiva,
as he has been doing in recent years. On Sunday the convicted rabbi returned to
his routine teaching duties, and after delivering a lesson at a Jerusalem
synagogue he headed south to the Or Etzion Yeshiva in Merkaz Shapira.

Rabbi Elon's weekly lesson at the Or Etzion Yeshiva, which
he himself graduated from, is held at a relatively late hour and is attended by
a small number of yeshiva and kollel students. It was founded three years ago,
six months after the Takana forum ruled that Elon had committed serious
sex-related religious and moral offenses, and following the police's
recommendation that he be indicted.

The lesson was initiated by Rabbi Druckman as an expression
of support for Elon.

Since the conviction, Rabbi Druckman is the only one who has
expressed support – even if not publicly – for Rabbi Elon, but estimates are
that several other prominent rabbis believe he is innocent, and as time goes by
they may also speak in his defense.

'Trampling on victims' dignity'

Druckman is one of the most important rabbis and educators
in the Religious Zionism movement, and is even considered by some as the most
prominent. He serves as head of the Center for Bnei Akiva Yeshivot and
Association of Hesder Yeshivot and is considered the unofficial rabbi of the
Bnei Akiva youth movement. As such, his decisions may be highly significant for
hundreds of thousands of youths and adults – students and graduates of these
institutions.

Ayelet Vider-Cohen, a former member of the Takana forum
established to fight sexual abuse in Israel's national-religious sector, said
in response to Rabbi Druckman's support for Elon that the latter's grave
actions left "injuries and scars that cannot be erased on the spirits,
bodies and souls of his students." She added that Druckman's reaction
served as a further serious injury to the victims.